Risen 2 - Interview @ RPGamer

After the huge sandbox world from Gothic 3, Risen was a return to the more focused, story-driven design seen in Gothic 1 and 2. Risen 2 appears to be much the same way. Would you ever consider making a game as large and open-ended as Gothic 3 again?
BP: We have always tried to learn from the experiences we made with our past games. We could imagine designing a world with a similar size to that of Gothic 3 again, and we almost did so for Risen 2. We believe that we can now tell a more captivating story by gathering the threads at certain points and adding twists. For that reason, we created an open world, but also implemented many more story elements this time.

The Gothic games have a reputation for brutal difficulty. Risen, too, was significantly more difficult than the average mainstream WRPG. Do you have any specific philosophy when it comes to difficulty in games?

BP: As we have always provided an open world, players who can't get past a certain point can usually go somewhere else first and return later, when they are stronger. That way we aim to create a balanced challenge for story players and explorers, but also those who focus on combat. In our opinion, a game only gets too difficult if the player is repeatedly frustrated and doesn't even get a reward for trying out different solutions. However, we do want to include different difficulty levels for players to choose from in Risen 2.

Still pretty nervous about them streamlining and removing quite a few of the series hallmark little touches. Still a day one buy…

Originally Posted by Elwro
What "hallmark touches" did they remove? And "quite a few", really? I thought this was going in a very good direction, must've missed something…

Yep you did, I 'll just quote Moriendor with some of the more widely known ones from a while back:

Originally Posted by Moriendor
They never lost the license in the first place. PB/Pluto 13 has always been in possession of the Gothic license. JoWooD only had contractual usage rights of said license but never acquired the actual license itself. Big (legal) difference.

As far as the new game is concerned almost everything sounds pretty good but I'm truly concerned about the following…

- No swimming/diving in a pirate game = WTF?!?
- Climbing (vertical exploration) is more restrictive than in the previous PB games
- Opponents can not be knocked unconscious anymore (instead NPCs are supposed to always die at zero hit points unless they are immortal due to being a quest NPC)
- One of the islands is supposed to be the home of the gnomes and there is a NPC gnome follower (name = Jaffar) as well -> From hints on the website it seems like the gnomes are a very childish race with their own language that resembles the language of four year olds.
I sincerely hope that they won't overdo it. I can live with some silliness and I don't need a !dark!, !gritty!, !mature! RPG from PB (the Gothics and Risen have had their humorous elements as well) but I'm a little concerned that the emphasis on the gnomes might be taken too far.
I think I would have preferred to find out more about the origin of the lizards. If there is one creature type of Risen 1 that they could have dropped entirely and I wouldn't have shed a single tear then it would have been the gnomes. Instead it looks like we're going to not only have to live with them but actually interact with them in a big way… *ugh*…
- No bows/x-bows… seems kind of odd that both weapon types are going to disappear entirely just because of the guns.
- No crystal magic anymore. I'm looking forward to Voodoo a lot since it should allow PB to implement a vast variety of really cool and creative spells but from a continuity point of view the removal of crystal magic is a bit of a nightmare (unless there is a really good explanation for it)…
- No drinking animation for potions and opening the inventory pauses the game even in the midst of combat.
Yeah. OK.
It's one of those "just don't exploit it" issues but they are making it way too tempting to just open the inventory in the middle of a fight and chug a potion with zero delay. There really should at least be a drinking animation so that you are extremely vulnerable while consuming a potion in the midst of combat.

I've yet to see any of those things confirmed by the developers. Anyways, the only one that bothers me is being able to drink potions during a paused inventory screen. Swimming would have been great, but it's not a deal breaker considering it wasn't in the first game either.

Few people in this forum will be happier than me if these things turn to be misinformation from the previewers. Still I am hoping that even if they are all accurate, there will be enough of the trademark PB character (in gameplay and atmosphere) to make me forget all that in the first few hours with the game… I have yet to simply "like" a PB game…

Can't decide if the vertical exploration thing or the potion thing or the npcs not being knocked unconcious (that was a great little bit that delighted and surprised me in the first Gothic) bugs me most… We'll see …

Originally Posted by JonNik
Can't decide if the vertical exploration thing or the potion thing or the npcs not being knocked unconcious (that was a great little bit that delighted and surprised me in the first Gothic) bugs me most… We'll see …

I'm not entirely sure if the vertical exploration is actually different from their previous games. It didn't appear to be in the videos I've seen. I honestly think that belief might be due to a misinterpretation of something that was said.

I recall reading something about being able to knock npcs unconcious with coconuts.

Knocking an NPC unconscious was a detail that I really liked in Gothic. In most cases, killing an NPC in was an explicit action AFTER knocking them down. I would hate to see this disappear in future PB games.

I always considered it to be completely absurd that in many games every minor and insignificant brawl that led to combat ended up in people dying.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I've yet to see any of those things confirmed by the developers.

All of the above has been confirmed by the developers with the exception of the unconscious vs. dead part. As far as I remember I got that one from the WoR forums where I have read about it several times but I'm not sure about the original source. I hope it's not true.
Everything else has been revealed or confirmed either by Deep Silver or PB.
Also, don't forget that the game was actually playable at the GC last year so some of that info is first hand from users, too.
My above quoted list is far from comprehensive though. There are even more changes that could be interpreted as negatives like the fact that there'll be only two factions instead of PB's usual three.
But then there's also positive changes, of course like e.g. the equipment system because instead of a single suit of armor there will be individual pieces in Risen 2 so there'll be more micro-management and generally more depth in that area.

Anyway, there are definitely quite a lot of changes that have made the original core community of the Gothics somewhat anxious about the direction of Risen 2. The so called "AKCP" (ass-conservative community party) has not been formed without a reason .

Personally, I don't mind the purported changes all that much. Seems like there's going to be a mix of give and take with hopefully more 'give' in the end…

Originally Posted by Moriendor
Anyway, there are definitely quite a lot of changes that have made the original core community of the Gothics somewhat anxious about the direction of Risen 2. The so called "AKCP" (ass-conservative community party) has not been formed without a reason .

Where do I sign up ?

Originally Posted by Moriendor
Personally, I don't mind the purported changes all that much. Seems like there's going to be a mix of give and take with hopefully more 'give' in the end…

Well I whine a lot but in the end looking (at the bare minimum I allow myself) screens and videos they do give off that distinctive flavor that I was talking about so I am hopeful…

Originally Posted by JDR13
I recall reading something about being able to knock npcs unconcious with coconuts.

Heh, cute. I do not mind the extra bit of humor they are adding btw. I think it suits the pirate setting. I hope they don't run wild with it though.

Hmm hey, the coconut thing might be cool. Is it PBs version of stealth knockout /active skill that you can invest to avoid combat ? sounds like one of them give things

I'm actually not too worried about most issues mentioned in this thread, but I am a bit worried when it comes to armor pieces vs full armor. I really liked the old system, where each armor was so much more than just loot - it was a symbol of rank and achievements. I hope they have a similar system despite using armor pieces now.

I've purposefully been avoiding news about Risen 2. Whatever they produce with this game, I just hope that it will be fun and meaningful to carefully explore everywhere and have very tough enemies to keep me on my toes.

-- If I'm right but there is no wife around to acknowledge it, am I still right?